Love's the Only Rule
by lunarmira
Summary: Do seemingly meaningless gifts carry some importance? Do words convey more than what is actually said? One ex-root member strives to learn before he loses the opportunity once and for all. Sai/Ino
1. Chapter 1

_**Love's the Only Rule**_

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****AN: **__Naruto is not mine, and this is a work of love and not meant for profit. _

_This is an idea I had for a long time, so I hope you enjoy my first venture with this particular pairing._

_Time wise, this takes place about a year and a half after Kurenei's baby would be born._

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**Chapter One**_

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"How's this?" Ino asked Choji as she finished chopping the cucumber.

"It's a bit roughly done, but it'll work," he said, then turned to Temari, who was standing on the other side of him, "You don't want it too chunky," he told her, then took his knife to show them, "Like this."

"Troublesome," Shikamaru noted from his perch at the Akimichi's table, "You can try and teach them all you want Choji, they just won't get it."

"Who was it that kept complaining about my cooking?" Temari growled, whipping her head around to glare at him, "I'm doing this for you," she turned back to watch what Choji was doing, "_Ass_."

"You're the one that married him, knowing what he was," the rotund man said as he finished chopping the cucumber and added it to the pot, "Besides Shikamaru would have complained even if you do get better. He'll either compare it to his mother's or my mother's."

"That's true," Ino nodded, "He complains about everything. Remember what he said when Aiko was born."

Choji and Temari giggled, and from his spot at the table Shikamaru sighed, "Shut-up."

"But it was just so funny! 'I thought Asuma was having a son,' You're lucky Kurenei-sensei didn't fling you from the hospital window," she grinned, "As it was she certainly threw a few things at you," she looked over at Temari, "You better watch out, he'll complain about the same thing when yours is born," she gestured at the slightly protruding belly barely peeking out from beneath the sand nin's dark dress.

"I almost hoped for a girl so I can bean him for it," she smirked, "But it's a boy, we found out yesterday."

"He'll find something else to complain about then," Choji said wisely.

"Stop being as troublesome as those two," Shikamaru snapped, causing all three to burst into laughter.

* * *

She waved goodbye to them and hurried on her way to the flower shop to begin work, carrying the bento she made with her.

"In case you have someone to give it to!" Choji had said happily.

She sighed, _It would be nice. _The last date she had even gone on was a _year _ago, and she had ended it because the guy was just so damn boring. Had nothing to talk about, and spent the entire evening complimenting her looks, not even trying to bring the conversation to anything remotely deeper than that.

_I don't think I want what Shikamaru and Temari have... all that bickering would wear me out, but I don't want a guy that just _stares_ at me and tells me I have a nice rack. Maybe I should try and pick someone up who also works at the hospital. Or someone who knows something about flowers. _She scrunched her nose, _Just _someone _that is more than a pretty face._

She unlocked the shop door and placed the bento on the counter before pulling an apron over her head, so preoccupied in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the dark-haired man that followed her in.

"Excuse me?" he said and she jumped before turning around to face Sai.

"Don't do that!" she exclaimed, hand over her heart, "Why are you sneaking up on people anyway?"

"But I'm a shinobi," he said staring at her blankly, "Your skills need improving if you didn't notice that I was at the window of the store, waiting for you to open."

Her mouth hang open for half a second at that, then she shook her head and smiled, "Well then, if you're here, then you must want a gift... who's the lucky ninja?"

He stared at her blankly again, "These plants are gifts? But how can they be useful? I don't see any medicinal herbs in here," he looked in the book he was holding, "It says here that people like looking at them, but I don't see the point."

"So you want to know why flowers make people happy," Ino said thoughtfully, "What brought this on?"

"Naruto. He gave someone a flower that he grew and she was remarkably happier. But I don't get it," she resisted the urge to laugh, despite the attempts he was making to mask his confusion on his face, his few years of hanging around the blond jinchuuriki had obviously had their effect. He looked like a deer trapped in headlights.

"Well, it could be that he grew it himself, or that he decided to give it to her," she pointed out, "It seems that he actually put a lot of thought into the gift... which is a bit surprising in itself, concerning it's Naruto."

"So placing a deeper meaning than what's really there?" Sai asked, looking around at the cacophony of colors in the shop, "Is that it?"

"Well, flowers _do_ have meanings," Ino smiled again, "You can give the completely wrong message by giving the wrong flower... do you remember which one Naruto gave her?"

He thought for a moment then pointed to a bunch of reddish flowers, "Those."

"Amaryllis," she said, "Those mean radiant beauty, so you generally give them to someone you think is beautiful inside and out."

He seemed to be mulling that over, so she left him alone to look at the different flowers when she heard the bell jingling to signal another customer.

She was kept busy for the next couple of hours, so when Sai finally spoke again, she had to stare for a moment to remember when he had come into the store.

"I want to work here," he said quietly, "It seems like there's something you can teach me about interacting with others."

"Are you sure?" she asked, "I thought you had some other..."

"I've been relieved for some vacation time," he said quietly.

"So you want to work here because you're bored," she sighed, placing her hands on her hips, "Well... if you really want to learn about flowers, then I'll help you out," she walked to the back and came back out with an apron, "Alright, starting today, you're my apprentice," she said as she handed it to him, "Maybe we'll even get your social skills up to taking someone out."

"But why would my social skills have any relevance on killing someone?" he asked with wide eyes as he pulled the apron over his head.

Her eyebrow twitched as the bell jingled again, _This... this might be the biggest regret of my life... _she realized glumly.

* * *

The morning went relatively quickly after that, and despite a few cutting remarks from Sai directed at customers, which Ino had to quickly rectify, it had passed fairly uneventfully.

In the early afternoon, she picked up the bento and followed him out.

"You never did eat your lunch," he pointed out as she was locking the door.

"This actually was from the cooking class Choji gave to me and Temari this morning," she said, "Bento like this you _give_ to someone, but unfortunately I don't have anyone..." she regarded him for a moment, "I've got an hour before my hospital shift starts, want to come and eat this with me?"

He stared at her for a moment.

"It's another thing that people use to convey their feelings," she pointed out, "As my apprentice, weren't you supposed to be finding things like that out? Besides, I didn't see you eating any lunch either."

"Are you a better cook than Sakura?" he asked quietly.

"Um... look wise, I still have a ways to go," she said sighing, "But I _think _I have the tastes down."

"Alright," he took the box from her, "Where do people eat this sort of thing?"

"_We're_ going to..." she looked around for a moment, "The bench over there, I'm starving."

He followed her, and she gave him a point for not grimacing when she opened up the box to reveal the sloppily made foods. _Maybe Shikamaru was right about Temari and myself being hopeless... _

Taking one of the two sets of chopsticks, he picked up a piece of the glazed tofu and put it in his mouth.

Ino stared at him, unconsciously holding her breath as he chewed.

"It's good," he said finally, "I suppose I can see the merit of this being a gift for a friend."

She took her own chopsticks and started eating, "What's got you so curious about all of this? I thought you had figured it all out by now."

He was quiet for a moment, and she worried that she had said the wrong thing, the look on his face was almost pained, and she _knew_ that she had never seen him make that expression before.

"Sai? Does this have to do with the flowers that Naruto gave to someone?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

He looked at her in surprise, "No. Why would I care if he gave someone else a present?"

She blushed, "Well... because Temari and I thought that maybe..." she stammered, "Well... we figured that..." she coughed and dropped her voice to a low whisper, pitching it so that only he could hear, "Maybe that you liked Naruto a bit more than..." she sighed, "y'know... you're..."

He stared at her for a moment, "You thought that I was gay?" he asked loudly enough so that the few passer-bys on the street turned and looked at the two of them for a long moment before running off, "You're very strange."

She was beet red, "Well... it looked like you were a bit... attracted to Naruto, so she and I thought..."

"Which disturbed you more?" he suddenly asked.

She hid her face in her hands, "That you had such bad taste! Of all the guys... _Naruto_?!"

He burst into laughter at that, clutching his sides. Her embarrassment subsided, and she started to chuckle along with him, not caring about the strange looks they were getting from the passer-bys.

* * *

It was very dark when she finally started to make her way home from her shift at the hospital, and she sighed as she contemplated eating something before collapsing in her bed.

_I doubt there'll be any leftovers with all my brothers at home. _she thought glumly as she turned onto her street, _Maybe I should have stopped somewhere to grab something quick._

A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped again before turning to attack...

"Sai!" she cried out at the dark haired man, "_Stop_ that!"

"You really need to work on your skills," he said with wide eyes, "What if the village were under attack again?"

"I'll send you to deal with them!" she said angrily, "What are you doing here anyways?"

He held out the box in his hands, "I decided to try it. Mostly because I remember Sakura saying that medic nin don't take breaks at the hospital. No wonder people think you have an eating disorder if you never stop and actually feed yourself."

"That's the second time you mentioned Sakura," Ino said thoughtfully, "Is it her that you're attracted too?"

"No," he said plainly, and Ino nodded sensing the truth there, _Not Naruto, not Sakura... I wonder if he really is attracted to someone, and it's not just me overthinking it._

"Are you going to accept?" he asked suddenly, and Ino realized that he was still holding out the bento.

"Of course," she smiled, "Though based on how you did, I might have to recommend that you join our morning cooking classes."

"Is there one tomorrow?" he asked.

She shook her head, "We have them every other day, when I work in the shop. Tomorrow we'll be training pretty much all day," she thought for a moment, "Since I won't be working with the flowers, maybe you can come and watch. Unless you have work with your team..."

"I'll do some studying on my own," he said, "But I might stop by at lunch to ask you questions."

She chuckled, "Alright apprentice, but be prepared for a huge test on all the flower meanings at the end of this."

He watched her turn to go to her home as they said their farewells, and when she looked back, he was still standing there, "I'll let you know tomorrow how you did!" she called as she held up the bento he made, "If I need to, I'll get Choji to work you in right away!"

He smiled then, "I'm certain that I did better than yours."

"That's not much of an achievement!" she laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Love's the Only Rule**_

_**AN: **__Naruto is not mine. And I'm surprised there's not a bit more fandom for this pairing._

_Also, sorry for the long time in updating!

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_**Chapter Two

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"Thank you," Sai smiled as he gave the bouquet to the elderly woman, who blushed as she left the building murmuring about how sweet he was.

"I've got to say," Ino said as she watered the flowers, "You're a natural at this." It had been two weeks since he had started studying under her, and she found that the only thing that rather annoyed her was that she couldn't figure him out. At times he would seem happy, but underneath all of that she sensed a desperate longing, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out for _what_.

_He _was_ in that Root program. And from what little I've heard about it, it's not good for one's personality. Or health. _she blew her bangs from her face, then glanced back at him.

He had taken out his sketchpad again, since the store was empty, and was drawing. She stared for a moment before turning back to the flowers,

"You're not going to ask what I'm drawing?"

"Believe or not, I'm not the gossip everyone thinks I am," she grinned, "I'll wait until you want to show me."

He stared at her for a moment, "Maybe tomorrow," then turned back to what he was doing.

"My team is going to the barbeque place later, want to come with?" she placed the watering can down, to look through the plants for any dead leaves.

Another odd stare from Sai, "It's that day isn't it?"

It was an honest enough question, but it made her stop and wonder, _He... remembered? Even though he had only just met us... _She bit her lip, "Yeah it is. I was going to take off in a few minutes to bring some flowers to the memorial."

"You want me to accompany you."

"Please," she turned away before he could see her blush, _Why am I blushing anyways? _

* * *

"Kurenai and Aiko looked well, didn't you think," Ino said as she and Sai left the field that held the memorial.

The ex-root member seemed strangely lost in thought, "Hn," he muttered not taking his eyes off the ground.

"Gosh though, she's getting big," she said, "It seems like only a few days ago that she was born and she's already almost two. I wonder if Shikamaru's kid is going to grow up just as fast."

Sai still didn't say anything, and Ino cast a sideways glance at him, "What's with you? Usually you have _something_ to say."

That made him look up and at her, "I..."

An ANBU member jumped down, "Yamanaka Ino, Sai... the Hokage would like to see you two right away."

"Seems like we have a mission," Ino said as the ANBU jumped away, a bit miffed that he had interrupted the two, "We better get going."

She jumped away then, leaving Sai to adjust his pouches before he followed.

* * *

Kakashi was sitting at the desk and reading his book as the door opened, "Good, they found you two."

"You wanted to see us?" Ino asked. Truth be told, she was surprised, it had been a long time since she had been sent out on a mission, not since Tsunade had retired and there seemed to be a lack of medical ninja in Konoha. Ino was one that usually worked at the hospital, despite her field training.

She supposed part of the lack of medical staff was partly due to Sakura's disappearance after the last battle in the Great War. She _knew _that it somehow led directly to the Gondaime's retirement, and that she and Team Seven knew where the forehead girl were, but Naruto refused to tell them anything about it, and none of their peers pressed him for further information, having already felt guilty for pressuring him on Sasuke only a few months before that.

Who knew that the idiot would have turned out _right_ about the missing nin.

Ino shook her head, best not to think on such things now, not when she was about to embark on her first mission in almost two years.

Still... she looked over at Sai... she wondered if the dark substitute member of Team Seven knew anything...

"There's a village that has petitioned our help in fighting a strange illness," Kakashi handed her the details, "You're one of Tsunade's students, so you should be able to help them more than anyone else I have at my disposal."

Ino ignored the underlying hint that Sakura was better, chalking it up to Kakashi being the mentor for Team Seven. If Asuma were alive and Hokage, she knew that he would make the same hint to Sakura.

It didn't stop it from hurting though.

She looked through the papers in the folder, "This _is _a strange illness, but not one so rare that it's never been heard of before. Do I leave right away?"

He nodded, "Sai, you're going to be giving her assistance." His visible eye darkened, "There _have _been reports of a group of shinobi terrorizing the area, the other part of the mission is finding out where the illness came from and if this group has anything to do with it."

"Why only two?" Sai asked, "Isn't it the normal procedure to send a full team for every mission?"

"Not on possible quarantine issues," Ino said, not surprised that he didn't know, "This way there is less of a chance that the disease will make it back to Konoha. I'm assuming that the messenger who delivered the message is already under watch at the hospital, along with anyone that he contacted?"

Kakashi nodded, "Report there first, they might have some information for you."

Both nodded and left the office.

* * *

"It seems like he was one of the healthy ones," the nurse that was in charge of the quarantine unit was saying, "But we're going to keep him under careful watch until we're absolutely sure." she gave Ino a package of medicines, "This should take care of all the problems, but something is bothering me."

"That this particular illness was supposed to be eradicated a long time ago?" she said, putting the package in her messenger bag, "The thought occurred to me too."

"You don't think someone actually _had _that virus hidden away somewhere," the nurse shivered, "That's... that's just too scary!"

"We'll find out," Sai said as he gently took Ino's arm, "I'm understanding that time is of the essence?"

She nodded, "Luckily the village is only a day away," she turned back to the nurse, "No vaccine yet?"

"Not yet, we're still running some tests, so be extra careful. We can't have one of our best getting sick on us."

Ino nodded, "Don't you worry about a thing! We'll get this beat in no time!"

* * *

"What are the symptoms?" Sai asked as they were leaping from tree to tree, "If I'm going to be assisting you, I'll need more information."

"It starts out with your basic aches and pains in the first stage, usually accompanied by a fever," Ino said, "The only thing here that signals something more than a cold is there's usually a red rash, most likely forming on the area above the elbow or knees." she paused for a second, "The second stage is more severe, the rash spreads and the fever escalates and affects the brain causing a hallucinogenic state. Luckily though, the subject is usually too weak to _act_ on that, but this causes the third and final stage."

"Which is?"

"Total brain shutdown and death. For the most part the disease is a neurological disorder, but the rash indicated something more to it, I remember studying it. This was supposed to be completely defeated though, there isn't even a vaccine for it anymore, not since..." she chewed her lip in thought, "I think my grandfather was a kid the last time there was an outbreak, the disease doesn't even _have _an official name, we just called it the Red Genjutsu."

The two continued the journey in silence for a long while after that.

Ino was the one who broke the silence, "You don't think that someone actually _did_ engineer this outbreak?"

"It stands to reason, there are many who don't know what to do in this new age of peace," Sai narrowed his eyes, "And there are many who would start a battle just for the sake of a war. It stands to reason that this mysterious group of shinobi were hired to cause trouble, to show the people of this world that there isn't any true peace after all."

"But that's just a slap in the face," she said, "Look at all the people who died trying to get this peace to come. Can't we just..."

"My old self has done many vile things, just to protect Konoha from the evils of an easy life," Sai said quietly, "I'm certain that there are many who think like Danzo did, that peace has no business in this world of shinobi, that the civilians are there to serve us, not us serve and protect them."

Ino chewed her lip, then smiled, "That's the difference isn't it, between those like me and those like what you were, how we view other people," she flipped her hair out of her eyes, "But I think that there are too many who fought for this peace to just let it go, so I'll keep on fighting for it."

Sai nodded, "I owe it to Naruto to keep fighting for it myself."

The two continued on their journey, reaching the village just after nightfall. Both adjusted their face masks before going into the front gates.

* * *

"This is the only free house that we have," the village Elder was telling the two, "But you can set up your clinic here. I'll send the ones that are still well enough to walk here," he started to walk away.

"Wait," Ino said, "Are there any that are bedridden right now?"

He stopped almost nervous as he answered, "Yes."

She grabbed his arm, "I'll see them first, Now in fact." she looked at him, "You had this when you were younger?"

He shook his head, "I don't remember, but for some reason it's not affecting the very old, or at least not yet."

"It coincides with the theory that this disease is one that was supposed to be eradicated. I bet you had it... or at least the vaccine they had for it... when you were a kid," she looked back at Sai, "You stay here, I'll be back after treating the victims."

He nodded, and smiled under the face mask, and went to perform the tests on the running water, something she had asked him to do right before they reached the town.

The village was eerily quiet, and he wondered just _how many _were affected, considering the length of time that Ino was taking to look at the patients. It was almost sunrise when she returned, looking haggard as she sat down in a chair.

"You're completely exhausted," he noted, "You won't be helping anyone like that."

"It's worse than we thought," she sighed, "How was the water?"

"Clean," he said, and she went to pour herself a glass, drinking it in one gulp, "How bad?"

"Half the village is already in stage two. The other half... a good quarter of them are showing signs of stage one, the rest are either very old or already dead." her eyes darkened, "_Something_ is causing this, it's spread to quickly... the messenger was sent when _signs _of the illness were showing up." She shook her head, "I already treated everyone for now, so we have today to make this into a workable clinic before I make some rounds again." She handed him a map, "Any other ideas?"

"Maybe there's another way to introduce the disease? It said in that folder that it was airborne," he unfolded the map and looked, "There's a meeting hall here, perhaps the village gathered together for an emergency." he looked back over at Ino who had folded her arms and was resting her head on the desk, snoring slightly.

He smiled, and carried her to the makeshift bed. "You can't help anyone if you don't take care of yourself," throwing a blanket over her, he started to turn to go to check out his newest suspicion.

"Sai..." Ino said in a small voice, he looked over at her, noting that she was still asleep. She sighed and turned over, leaving him absolutely confused.

_Why would she call out my name in her sleep like that?_ Shaking his head, he jumped away.


End file.
